Thornéd Rose
by Gangsta Videl
Summary: Challenge!Fic Anthy sticks up for herself in accordance to a secret promise she has with her brother. Oneshot.


Thornéd Rose  
  
A/N: Challenges can be interesting. Here's one reason why: I'm bloody insane. Here's another: Those who bend are not always the weakest. Confused? Me too. And I'm the one writing... about Anthy's hair. *dead* "To Till" and the prologue is what inspired this, and fun challenges. Whoo... *deader* Blame my imagination; I sure do.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena. G'way, you pesky lawyer- type peoples... .  
  
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Not many people know just how many stars there are in the sky.  
  
My Big Brother does, though. He told me, once, that I, too, could know, if only I promised to only ever love him. I told him that I wasn't sure I could do that---supposing that someone commanded me to love them? But then my Brother proposed something different... Something I could do for him, and only for him.  
  
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The rose petals fell and flew off in the wind like beads of blood. Not an entirely incorrect metaphor, as the sword that had knocked the flower out of the duelist's breast pocket had also cut the duelist himself. One hand over his wound, he found himself at the mercy of the sadistically cruel Saionji.  
  
"You lose," the winner hissed, and the loser winced. Nothing could stand up to the awesome Sword of Dios... and the hauntingly blank look in the Rose Bride's eyes was not making this victory of Saionji's any less painful for the challenger.  
  
"You should have known better than to dare challenge me," Saionji persisted, drawing his own rose from his pocket. The thorns were still intact... Actually, he'd made his Bride keep it that way. Sticking himself with thorns to make sure the flower wasn't knocked out so easily... Quite ingenius, and still perfectly legal, at least in his eyes.  
  
"Come, Anthy," he decreed with the same mocking tone. The Bride's large, green eyes flickered first to the bleeding man who lay on the stones of the dueling arena, and then back to her current fiancé.  
  
"As you say, Lord Saionji," she stated, and followed behind him in perfectly even paces; ever the enigmatic bride. Whether or not his smirk was seen by his opponent was unknown to the winning duelist; all he cared about was the Power, and that---once again---it was in his grasp.  
  
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"Come, Anthy."  
  
The bespectacled girl looked up sharply and moved to comply with her master's demands. 'Whatever Lord Saionji wants, Lord Saionji gets', she knew---that was the way things were, and would always be, when dealing with she, the Rose Bride.  
  
"Don't you even look at those other Duelists," he would say, and Anthy would nod and bow her head. Ever-so obedient, she would always remain loyal to her master. Always.  
  
In fact, Anthy would do anything that the current victor demanded. Those were the rules, she stated calmly, and she was always calm---no other emotion ever flickered across her surface. There was never an occasion when it wouldn't---it was her duty to uphold, and she would always do it.  
  
Anthy Himemiya was no quitter.  
  
Without hint of a frown, she would carry on, attending to her studies when the need be, and to her Lord Saionji when he so commanded it. This is how it was, and the way it should always be; or it was, at least.  
  
Until...  
  
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I am the Rose Bride, and I will be the flower to anyone who can win me. Everything you ask I shall do, for I am yours. Anything you want me to do... or to do to me... Shall and will be done. Because I am your Bride now, and I belong to you...  
  
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"Anthy."  
  
The violet-haired girl looked up immediately. She must always command Lord Saionji, afterall, no matter what. Her will was his command, afterall.  
  
Violet, demon-like eyes glared down at her. Any fear she might have felt was dismissed immediately---she must not show fear. She must not be afraid. She must be the perfect Bride for her victor.  
  
"Why don't you take your hair down?"  
  
It was a demand, not a request; but Anthy shook her head nonetheless. "No, Lord Saionji." This caused the upperclassman to turn his gaze quite icy.  
  
"Did I hear you incorrectly, Anthy?" Saionji's eyes narrowed. His crisp, freshly-ironed uniform made his large, squared shoulders seem larger than usual, and the anger in his eyes glinted at the disrespectful nature of the girl. "You dare to say 'no' to your master?"  
  
With her head bowed low, Anthy took a small moment to breathe before replying in that steady, even voice of hers: "I will not take it down for you, Lord Saionji, nor anyone else. Only for the one I love."  
  
"Are you saying you don't acknowledge our engagement?" the male fumed. "You're stretching your liberties too thin, girl. You are mine!"  
  
His palm hit her face with a loud thwack, and the schoolgirl tumbled to her knees, her balance offset. Still, she looked only to the ground, mind unaltered and thoughts the same.  
  
Seeing this made the victor glare with the utmost intensity. Seething now, his hand gripped at the girl's wrist and he pulled her to her feet, smashing her back against the cool wall of the Student Council's Rose Garden. A brief look of alarm crossed the girl's face, before Kyouichi pressed her wrist to her chest and she could feel the snap.  
  
"You'd do better to learn and obey if you want to keep living, girl," he hissed. Anthy looked up suddenly, his words taking more effect on her than usual. He continued to sneer at her before pulling her away from the wall (and causing her to trip over her own feet in the meanwhile) and throwing her to the ground.  
  
Her glasses fell from her face and she landed on her hurting wrist, but Anthy would not cry out. Or, to be perfectly honest, she was unable to--- one of Sainji's hands was clamped over her mouth to keep this from occuring.  
  
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Eternity can be yours, and the power to revolutionize the world! The power that lies within me... the Power of Dios!  
  
Nothing will be out of your reach, until the next Duel arises...  
  
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Calm and blank-faced, the girl stood still, her glasses having been replaced previously, and awaited her punishment for daring to defy her Lord and Master. She would not shrink in fear like he might wish in the back of his mind, nor would she plead for him to stop; she would take it in full, no punches pulled. That was just the way things were.  
  
Even if he smacked her again---and he was, she could easily see him raising his hand at her---she would not take her hair down for him. Her body was his, yes; her whole being was his; all but her heart. She may be engaged to him---and others before him, and mayhap others in the future---but none of them would ever love her the way her Brother could.  
  
Anthy Himemiya closed her eyes and waited. She was no stranger to pain, having borne the burden of End of the World much longer than anyone else could ever dream of doing.  
  
Was that why she waited so patiently?  
  
It did not matter, anyway. Saionji would do to her as he desired, and if his desire was to strike her, than so be it.  
  
"Saionji!"  
  
Anthy opened her eyes slowly, wondering why she was hearing the Council's President speaking. Looking ahead of her, she saw that the redheaded upperclassman had caught her betrothed's hand, preventing his abusive guesture.  
  
The girl blinked a time or two, wondering why the elder Kiryuu had stopped the other boy. He was the President, afterall---surely he had to know that Saionji was doing was in coordination to the laws set by World's End?  
  
Saionji glared at this nuisance, and Touga returned it tenfold.  
  
"Student Council meeting," he hissed, dropping Kyouichi's hand like it was a bearer of the plague. "Immediately."  
  
"You are to come," he finished, turning his back to the couple. "The both of you."  
  
Saionji growled low in his throat, but Anthy nodded solemnly. "Yes, President. We will be sure to attend." Saionji glowered at her. His displeased nature was impossible to miss. "As soon as our business is finished here, we will come."  
  
"His abuse is unecessary," Touga said, lifting one of her roses in his hands. Not once did he look back at the girl to whom he was speaking. "You need not put up with it."  
  
"I do not need to," she answered softly. It seemed a foreign idea, but one of some importance. Not that she cared to listen to it, of course. "But I do choose to."  
  
She chose to do this; chose to stay the obedient princess, rather than fight everyone and everything.  
  
And that was what made her different.  
  
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I will bloom only for you; your most lovely rose...  
  
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"Anthy? Are you okay?"  
  
The violet-haired girl looked over at the girl speaking to her. Rose- colored hair, and bright blue eyes; far different from her old fiancée. Then again, this girl---this Utena Tenjou---was far different from any other Duelist Anthy had known before.  
  
"I am fine, Lady Utena," she replied calmly, light reflecting off her glasses in odd patterns as she nodded her head. "And how are you today?"  
  
Utena laughed nervously. She was her own person, Anthy could see, and it made her more interesting to regard than certain others.  
  
"You know, you don't have to call me 'Lady' all the time," she fussed. Anthy had never seen a Duelist fuss so, not once. "And would it kill you to do something on your own, without having a jerk like Saionji tell you to do it?"  
  
"I do whatever the winner of the Duel asks of me," Anthy replied. Her face, along with her tone, gave no hint of any emotion she might have been hiding. "Because there is someone I love, and I will do whatever I must to please him."  
  
"Oh?" Utena cocked her head. "Your own Mr. Lickylick, hunh?"  
  
Anthy smiled. It was such a rare occurance for her to do so---only ChuChu and her beloved brother had ever made her smile before. Not a Rose Duelist; not until now.  
  
"We ought to prepare for bed, Lady Utena."  
  
Utena nodded and watched the other girl rise from her seat at the small table. As she disappeared, she herself turned and pulled her own nightgown out. This was all too weird... but maybe things would work out. Eventually.  
  
And the Himemiya girl stood in front of her mirror, watching her own reflection carefully. Then, slowly, she raised her hand and tugged at the bobby pins in her hair. Her hair fell down around her shoulders in large waves and she glanced at her reflection in idle wonder.  
  
"I must apologize, Big Brother," she said to the glass. "It seems that I have broken our promise."  
  
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For the one I love the most... and that is you.  
  
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She sat and fell backwards onto her bed, and Anthy did the same. As they landed, Utena turned to look at the Bride's face, to maybe question her more about the Duels, when she noticed it.  
  
"Anthy... your hair... "  
  
Green eyes blinked. "Yes, Lady Utena?"  
  
Utena made a slight face. "You've, er, let your hair down. I've never seen it that way before."  
  
"That's because I've never shown it this way to anyone else before," came the cool reply. "Lady Utena."  
  
"Yes?" The pink-haired girl had taken it as a question.  
  
"Nothing," Anthy said quietly, rolling over onto her back to look up at the ceiling. "You should go to sleep. We have class tomorrow, you know."  
  
"Ah." Utena nodded and closed her eyes. Moments passed, and---when Anthy was quite certain that her new fiancée was asleep, she sat up and looked out to the sky.  
  
"Lady Utena... I will choose for you the way that things should be," she whispered, and closed her eyes, smiling. "Because you do not know, and I myself do."  
  
And with that out, Anthy placed a kiss on Utena's forehead and allowed herself to lay back down and close her own eyes, welcoming slumber.  
  
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... Big Brother.  
  
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A/N: ^^; Not bad for a first, I hope. Really based on the prologue and the movie, and not the series as much, since I've not seen all of it. ^^;; But I did try and incorperate some of the fun series details, like the sleeping.  
  
And if anyone cares? I like Utena's manga party dress better than the one in the anime. I think it's prettier... ^^  
  
---Gangsta Videl 


End file.
